​Fifteen-Year-Old Uses Bitcoins to Fund Tutoring Startup

Jun 17, 2014

THANKS, GRANDMA: What’d you get for your thirteenth birthday? Whatever it was, we bet you didn’t invest it in Bitcoin, grow it into $100,000, and use it to finance an edtech startup. Unless you’re Erik Finman, of course. Finman, now fifteen years old, founded Botangle, which enables users to receive video tutoring in a wide variety of subjects.

The idea arose from Finman’s own frustration with lack of access to information while growing up in rural Idaho. As he writes on his blog, “tutoring that is focused and student-centric and engages students in ways responsive to needs and available technology became my passion.” Through Botangle, Finman hopes to help other learners across the globe find community and support in their studies, from Tagalog to violin.

For $24 per hour, you can even receive private tutoring from the 15-year-old Finman in the subject of “College Admissions.” Let us know if you do -- in an interview with Mashable, Finman explains, “I actually have a deal with my parents that if I make a million dollars before I turn 18, I don’t have to go to college.” We’re sure curious about his college application advice.

THANKS, GRANDMA: What’d you get for your thirteenth birthday? Whatever it was, we bet you didn’t invest it in Bitcoin, grow it into $100,000, and use it to finance an edtech startup. Unless you’re Erik Finman, of course. Finman, now fifteen years old, founded Botangle, which enables users to receive video tutoring in a wide variety of subjects.

The idea arose from Finman’s own frustration with lack of access to information while growing up in rural Idaho. As he writes on his blog, “tutoring that is focused and student-centric and engages students in ways responsive to needs and available technology became my passion.” Through Botangle, Finman hopes to help other learners across the globe find community and support in their studies, from Tagalog to violin.

For $24 per hour, you can even receive private tutoring from the 15-year-old Finman in the subject of “College Admissions.” Let us know if you do -- in an interview with Mashable, Finman explains, “I actually have a deal with my parents that if I make a million dollars before I turn 18, I don’t have to go to college.” We’re sure curious about his college application advice.